Wednesday, February 08, 2006

Quotes of the Morning: Cracks in the Dam

“Goddess bless Helen Thomas. She seems to ask the important questions.” -Skippy

“Q Does the President think he should obey the law? He put his hand on the Bible twice to uphold the Constitution. Wiretapping is not legal under the circumstances without a warrant. MR. McCLELLAN: Well, I guess you didn't pay attention to the Attorney General's hearing earlier today, because he walked through very clearly the rationale behind this program. And, Helen, I think you have to ask are we a nation at war -- Q There is no rationale to disobey the law. MR. McCLELLAN: Well, he's not -- are we a nation at war? Q That's not the question. MR. McCLELLAN: No, that is the issue here. Q No, the question is, the point is there are means for him to go to war, get a warrant to spy on people. MR. McCLELLAN: Enemy surveillance is critical to waging and winning war. It's one of the traditional tools of war. Q Nobody says he doesn't have running room to -- MR. McCLELLAN: And the Attorney General outlined very clearly today how previous administrations have used the same authority and cited the same -- Q That doesn't make it legal. MR. McCLELLAN: -- and cited the very same authority. Q If they broke the law, that's too bad. You know what happened to Nixon when he broke the law.” -Press Gaggle with White House Spokesman Scott McClellan, February 6, 2006

“The White House has been twisting arms to ensure that no Republican member votes against President Bush in the Senate Judiciary Committee’s investigation of the administration's unauthorized wiretapping. Congressional sources said Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove has threatened to blacklist any Republican who votes against the president. The sources said the blacklist would mean a halt in any White House political or financial support of senators running for re-election in November. ‘It's hardball all the way,’ a senior GOP congressional aide said.” -Washington Times, February 6, 2006 Issue

“Yes, that is Karl Rove, the man who outed an undercover CIA agent to the press, trying to make sure that no one complains about the Administration’s illegal wiretapping.” -Skippy “Isn’t it ironic.. Don’t you think? A little too ironic. Yeah, I really do think.” -Alanis Morrisette

“Why should they be jumpy though? The Democrats can’t even seem to work up a good head of steam on this issue, and you know that the Republicans control Congress (and now the Supreme Court).” -Skippy

"’Under the Bush administration, there's been a disgraceful and illegal decision — we're not going to the let the judges or the Congress or anyone else know that we're spying on the American people,’ Carter told reporters. ‘And no one knows how many innocent Americans have had their privacy violated under this secret act.’ Carter made the remarks at a union hall near Las Vegas, where his oldest son, Jack Carter, announced his candidacy for the U.S. Senate. The former president also rebuked Attorney General Alberto Gonzales for telling Congress that the spying program is authorized under Article 2 of the Constitution and does not violate the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act passed during Carter's administration. Gonzales made the assertions in testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, which began investigating the eavesdropping program Monday. ‘It's a ridiculous argument, not only bad, it's ridiculous. Obviously, the attorney general who said it's all right to torture prisoners and so forth is going to support the person who put him in office. But he's a very partisan attorney general and there's no doubt that he would say that,’ Carter said. ‘I hope that eventually the case will go to the Supreme Court. I have no doubt that when it's over, the Supreme Court will rule that Bush has violated the law.’" -Associated Press, February 7, 2006 “That’s just Carter though. I mean, he was known as the worst President ever for years (until dethroned by Dubya). He’s some namby-pampy pacifist with a good history in international relations and civil rights who used to be President, but we all know that real men invade other countries without reason and ignore civil rights, so we can discount what he says.” -Skippy

“A House Republican whose subcommittee oversees the National Security Agency broke ranks with the White House on Tuesday and called for a full Congressional inquiry into the Bush administration's domestic eavesdropping program. The lawmaker, Representative Heather A. Wilson of New Mexico, chairwoman of the House Intelligence Subcommittee on Technical and Tactical Intelligence, said in an interview that she had ‘serious concerns’ about the surveillance program. By withholding information about its operations from many lawmakers, she said, the administration has deepened her apprehension about whom the agency is monitoring and why.” -New York Times, February 7, 2006

“Um, that’s a Republican… A REPUBLICAN! My God, I knew it was getting cold out again, but I had no idea that the inferno was icing down. Who knows, we may actually find out that we are a country ruled by laws after all..” -Skippy